It was fairly clear in *MASH* that Corporal Klinger's affectation
for women's clothes stemmed from his desire to be discharged as loony, not
because he was gay (despite what Farr might have felt about the role).  In
*Soap,* as I recall, Billy Crystal's character Jodie was intended to be
gay but also (if memory serves correctly), his ambition was to have a
sex-change operation.  *Love, Sidney* was a sit-com spun off from a
well-received m-f-tv-m on NBC in which the Randall character was
unambiguously gay, while NBC claimed that, in the sit-com, he was not,
which very much surprised the show's writers, producers, and performers.
Randall was very outspoken about NBC's retinence and evasions concerning
his character's sexual orientation, as I recall.  The Showtime program was
*Brothers,* which had a long run in the mid- to late-1980s and paved the
way for the likes of Larry Sanders, et. al.  The show was about an older
brother and his father dealing with the younger brother's homosexuality,
set in what had to be the nation's most brightly-lit tavern (done on
videotape, the production required light levels found in few bars!).  I
think there was a recurring gay man in *thirtysomething,* a friend of
photographer Melissa (or was that Ellen, can't recall).
 
        Lately, a number of gay characters have made intermittent
appearances on a number of sit-coms, including *Home Improvement,* *Just
Shoot Me,* *Frazier,* and even *Seinfeld,* not that there's anything wrong
with that! :-)
_______________________________________________________________________________
                          William Lafferty, PhD
 
Department of Theatre Arts                           [log in to unmask]
Wright State University                           office (937) 775-4581 or 3072
Dayton, OH  45435-0001  USA                            facsimile (937) 775-3787
 
        The universe was once conceived almost as a vast preserve, landscaped
  for heroes, plotted to provide them the appropriate adventures.   The rules
  were known and respected, the adversaries honorable, the oracles articulate
  and precise as the directives of a six-lane parkway.  Errors of weakness or
  vanity  led,  with  measured  momentum,  to  the  tragedy  which   resolved
  everything.  Today, the rules are ambiguous, the adversary is  concealed in
  aliases, the oracles broadcast a babble of contradictions.
 
                                 --- Maya Deren, from her notes for *At Land*
 
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